The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-05
THE CRAZE or HAND-sHAxING.
Prominent Men Whose Hands Are
Grasped by Unthinking Thousands.
From the Chicago NsE


tleman to areporter the other day in the
rotunda OF the Palmer House, after his
: hand had been violently shaken by at least
five passing acquaintance. DO YOU know, y
he continued, that it is becoming
horrid nuisance aud it IS
getting worse and worse every
day The English are bad enough,
but we are fifty times more so. II a man is
of any eminence or renown he is often intro
duced 10 forty or fifty people in a string,
and TO omit 70 shake hands with any one of
them would be considered an act of disse-
spect Even the walters and porters at the
hotels expect you TO shake hands with them
on your second arrival, if they re-
member your face and YOU tipped them
on your previous visit | was stopped
on the street the other day by hack driver,
who insisted on shaking hands with me. Its
all very well to be popular, but there is q
limit TO everything. Look at the President
/ wonder how many thousand shakes he
has TO give in the course OF the yeari
think the limit of republican simplicity was
reached the other day when the chief magis-
trate of $1,000, 900 people had 10 shake hands
with, that brute, John L. Sullivan. They say
Lincoln used to take his revenge out Of Some
too-importunate handshasers by giving
them such squeeze as TO cause them
to remember him with pain for few hours
nuisance is equally bad in summer a. IN
winter. In summer YOU are sure To meet
some fat and greasy friend, whe forthwith
extends his flaecid and perspirlnz digits and
holds your hand IN his until the sudorihe
poultice becomes absolutely unbearable. In
the winter, too, Your shlVerlng nAgerS have
TO creep from out the COW corner Of your
overcoat pocket into the RELENTLESS clutch of
some skeleton whose hand is an icicle, and
who borrows from your scanty stock what
ever animal warmth there may be. The
Partisan digs his bristly chin into your
cheek and hugs you like bear; the Indian
approaches more soberly with the pipe
of peace; the Laplander picks up hand
full of hard snow and rubS ii on Your nCcss.
Now any or all Of these no,les together
prefer TO our abonlinable Misunderstanding. I'll
let the Frenchman dig his beard into me, or
smoke with the Indian, but this hand
shaking absurdity can in no manner or by
any available philosophy abide
did YOU ever consider how people first
began to shake handsfa he continued.
''Nos Well, then, sit down here and III
tell you what | think about it, fer have
given this subject some study.
So My opinion Is that in early and barba-
: ,,pns times when every savage or semi
Wage was his own law-giver, Judge,
pldier, and policeman, and had to watch
yer his own safety, in default of all other
rptecton, when two friends or acquain-
onces, or two strangers desiring to be
fiends or acquaintance, when they CHANGED
meet, offered each to the other the right
Ind alike of offense and defense, the hand
hat wields the sword, the dagger, the club,
he tomahawk, or other weapon of war.
tach did this TO show that the hand was
fnpty and that neither war nor treachery
|as intended A man cannot well stab
mother while he is engaged in the
~ of shaking hands with him unless he be q
puble-dyed traitor and villain and strives
# y aim cowardly blow with the left while
living the right and pretending to be on
bod terms with him. Did you ever observe
lat ladies never shake hands with the cor
atty of men unless it be with each OF her
be reason is obvious. II is for them TO re
live homage, not to give it. They cannot
expected to show to persons of the Other
x warmth of greeting which might bs
isinterpreted unless such persons are very
psely related, in which cases Misunderstanding
not needed, and the lips do more agreea-
duty.
s.Every man shakes hands according t.
S nature, whether it be timid or aggres
We, proud or humble, courteous or churlish
hlgar or refined. There is certainly great
h in hand-shaking, but tell you the kline
handshake hate, and that is one of tht
what / call the jolly-good- fellow hand
shakes One of those fellows viii GRASP
your hand, squeeze ii until the tears ralf
4 down your checks, and then, using your arm
the same manner as pump handle, viii
b on shaking all the time he is talking tx
lou, letting it rest easy for moment or 50
nth the exception of little spasrnodit
Ehake now and again, only, however, X
Tart in afresh. The first time you imagine
e is doing it because he is extremely glac
u see you, but when you see him manifest
he same cordiality toward people whom hC
S net for the first time yesterday ana toward
1bose with whom he has been intimate fbl
%ears you know he is a humbug, or is, al
&nly rate, acting from habit. But of all tht
hen to be avoided the man who squeeze,
our hand in an excruciating manner on Z
hlse pretense is the worst. He dislocate'
&our joints to convince you that be regard;
You highly, and as soon as you are out ot
night forgets you or thinks that you are nc
Ereat shakes after all, or, worse still, abuses
4 You behind your back.
Another and even more odious kind Of
hand-shaker is he who offers you his hand
but will not permit YOU TO get fair hold o.
II. To be treated with the cool contempt OF
tkaIpercilious scorn which such a mode o.
SALVATION implies is sworse than not to b.
saluted at all If hands are to be shaker
let il be done properly. Another species O
hand-shaker detest is the man who offers
YOU one finger instead of five, as much as :.
say L am elbueE 100 pIeucCupltQ DlNbel ~
think too little of you to give you my who'll
hand With such man the interchang,
of any but the barest and scantiest courtes'
Is rendered difficult by any one who has
particle of self-respect.
"Yet another Objectionable man is the OH
that shoves out his left hand in greeting
YOU That Is diseourteous, sometimes inten
tional and sometimes not, but it is an &C
- that no true gentleman would commit
There is really no reason why it should
Maore discourteous than to kiss the left chez
pstead Of the right, but doubtless the Gus
1pm that makes the right hand inlperativ
"a all sincere Solicitations dates from thoe
&arly times when hand-shaking first began
md the hand that shook OF was shake
b friendship was Of necessity weapon
less. The poor left hand tbs
one would think ought 10 be of @
much value and strength as the right
Just as the left foot OF leg is as strong as til
right foot or leg, because they are both use
equally, has fallen into disrepute as well q
into comparative disuSe. until it has becom
an accepted phrase 10 say of any proceeding
that is inausplcious, artful, sly, or secretl
malicious, that it is sinister N-that is left
handed 30 not, remember, object to shak
hands on certain occasions, but il is this pei
petual shake shake with everybody tina
] object TO. IT is pleasant to touch the han
Of an honest man or woman, and 20 be o.
such terms Of acquaintanceship with eithe
Of these masterpieces of creation as to jus
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